Sidelights

Though Carey Hart's career began as a motocross racer, a 2004
injury led him to expand his activities. He owns a tattoo parlor in his
home town of Las Vegas, Nevada, and had featured roles in two reality
shows in 2005. Hart also married long-time, on-again, off-again
girlfriend, pop singer Pink, in

early 2006, as he prepared to return to his sport. Hart had been an
freestyle motocross athlete of note as the inventor of a trick known as
the "Hart Breaker"—a back flip on a 250cc
(full-sized) motorcycle. He also invented the "Hart
Attack"—a hand-stand on the motorcycle done in midair. Hart
has broken at least 20 bones throughout his years as a motocross athlete.
He told Scott Hoffman of
Dirt Rider
, "Every time I ride I get scared. Every time I hit a jump the
first time I'm scared. Fear is definitely what keeps me doing it
but it also slows me down."

Hart was born in 1975 in Las Vegas, where he was raised by his single
father, Tom Hart, who owned a construction company, for much of his life.
His parents divorced when he was young. Hart was given his first motocross
bike when he was only four years old, a present from his father who rode
motorcycles for fun. As Hart began riding dirt bikes, he also began
competing in local races. When he was 18 years old, Hart turned pro as a
motocross rider. He competed in supercross racing (motorcycle racing) for
a significant amount of time, but did not find the experience satisfying.
Hart told Hoffman of
Dirt Rider
, "I rode supercross for three seasons and really wasn't
getting a whole lot out of racing. I did pretty
decent my last season riding but nobody wanted to give me any help, so it
was either change things up or quit altogether."

Since racing motorcycles to win was not enough for him, Hart decided to
try something different. When he was 23 years old, Hart changed his focus
to become a freestyle motocross rider, an emerging sport in which tricks
and jumps are done on a motocross bike over a course in an allotted amount
of time, usually two or three minutes. The dirt course has ramps and
jumps, and is usually 275 feet by 185 feet. Judges award points for what
the athletes accomplish on the course in competitions.

Within a short amount of time, Hart became the recognized leader of
freestyle motocross. He first showed off moves on the Warped Tour—a
summer touring extravaganza focusing on music and alternative
entertainment—which led to the expansion of the sport and
Hart's career in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Hart soon had
sponsors and was earning hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in
endorsements. Hart also competed in the premier sporting events like the
Gravity Games and the X Games which featured freestyle motocross events.
One significant moment came in the 2000 Gravity Games, held in Providence,
Rhode Island. Hart made history when he became the first rider to complete
a back flip on a full-sized motocross motorcycle in competition, the
so-called "Hart Breaker." Hart had tried it at the 2000 X
Games, but failed in that attempt. Completing the Hart Breaker made Hart a
world-wide star and household name, but also left him in pain; Hart had
compressed vertebra in his back and pulled ligaments. These injuries were
caused by the fact that he landed on his back quite hard when he completed
the move for the first time in competition. Hart told Stephen Sherill of
the
New York Times
, "I was just ecstatic that I didn't kill myself."

When Hart tried to pull off the Hart Breaker again at the 2001 X Games, he
was unable to complete the maneuver because he lost control of his bike.
The attempt left Carey with broken foot bones, broken ribs, and a tailbone
that was bruised. While recovering from these injuries, he found other
activities to fill the time. During the Warped Tour in 2001, for example,
he played bass with Pennywise, a band that performed during part of the
tour. Returning to competition in 2002, he finished second in the Big Air
Discipline of Motocross at the Summer X Games, where he completed a Hart
Breaker. That year, he won a gold medal at the Australian X Games as well.

In the early 2000s, Hart also began appearing in videos and films. Most of
his filmed appearances were on freestyle motocross tapes like
Crusty Demons of Dirt, Vol. 3
in 2001,
Ultimate X: The Movie
in 2002, and
Flipped Out
in 2003. Hart filmed a music video with Kid Rock in 2002, the same year
he moved into feature films with a cameo in the action film
xXx.
Hart also appeared as himself in 2003's
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
, the sequel to the hit movie.

After sustaining injuries which required extensive rest in 2004, Hart
again found non-motocross activities to fill his time. In 2005, he joined
the cast of season five of the VH1 reality show,
The Surreal Life.
The show mixes a variety of has-been and minor celebrities together in a
house in Los Angeles. They are taped while completing tasks which
sometimes highlight tensions between them. Hart shared the home with actor
Bronson Pinchot, former super-model Janice Dickinson,
Apprentice
competitor Oma-rosa Manigault Stallworth, and disgraced baseball player
Jose Conseco. Hart was considered relatively normal on the show.

That same year, Hart was part of another reality show called
Inked
which aired on A&E. This show centered on the tattoo parlor Hart
opened with nightclub promoter John Huntington in 2004, Hart &
Huntington Tattoo Company in the Palms Casino in Las Vegas.
Inked
featured Hart dealing with his staff and clients, including his co-owner
Thomas Pendleton, a tattoo artist. Hart was covered in tattoos himself,
having gotten his first tattoo at the age of 17.

During his time off, Hart also married his girlfriend of several years,
Pink, whom he met at the 2001 X Games. They were wed early in 2006 in an
elaborate wedding in Costa Rica. He also prepared to return to competition
with new sponsors like Jones Soda. Damage to his body was not going to
prevent Hart from pursuing his sport. He told Bob Leddy of the
Providence Journal-Bulletin
, "There's no way an injury's going to keep me from
doing it [competing]. I've got to stick with it. It's
something you've got to deal with. You put it aside and go for
it."